WND EXCLUSIVE

Sex-offender intern's case goes underground

Homeland Security, courts, senator's office all mum

Michael Carl is a veteran journalist who served overseas in the U.S. Army. He has operated his own political consulting firm and worked as a press secretary for a vice presidential candidate. He also has two master's degrees, is a bi-vocational priest and lives with his family in the Northeast United States.

The case against an intern serving in the Newark, N.J., office of Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat from that state, who was arrested Dec. 6 reportedly for being both an illegal immigrant and a sex offender, apparently has gone underground.

However, there seems to be no record of the arrest, the progress of Sanchez’s case, or that he is even still in custody.

WND contacted the Newark office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service. Officials there declined comment and referred WND to the ICE’s regional supervisor.

The ICE New Jersey supervisor referred WND to the Department of Homeland Security, which has not responded to WND’s request for an interview about the case.

In a follow-up inquiry, officials at the U.S. court for Newark told WND they have no record of Sanchez’s arrest, or if he is being held in custody.

The clerk for federal judge Patty Schwartz also said that she had no information on the disposition of Sanchez’s case and referred WND to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER, the Internet-based federal court record system.

A PACER search returned no records of an arrest, an arraignment, or any court dates for Sanchez.

A spokeswoman who declined to give her name said Menendez’ office has nothing to do with the arrest or prosecution of the case.

The case gained national attention because of press reports that Hudson County, N.J., prosecutors notified the ICE in October that Sanchez was not only an illegal immigrant, but also a registered sex offender in his native Peru.

The spokeswoman in Menendez’ office said Sanchez was able to land the internship because he did not receive a salary.

“We were not aware of his immigration or his sex offender status because unpaid interns don’t have to pass through the e-verify system,” she said, adding that the senator’s office wasn’t aware of the situation.

“We don’t know anything about any request for waiting until after the election to arrest Sanchez,” the woman said.

She said the senator would not have allowed Sanchez to get the position if his status had been known.

But Americans for Legal Immigration PAC president William Gheen says it appears like the Obama immigration service and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were covering for the senator, who probably knew of the situation.

“The source article in the Associated Press appears to be quoting an unnamed official, but I feel quite comfortable pointing the finger at the top ranks like John Morton and Janet Napolitano,” Gheen said.

Gheen believes that this is only the latest in a series of White House connected illegal activities.

“Chances are high it leads right back to the White House just like all of these other scandals do like Fast and Furious, Amnesty Decree Gate, Bengazi Gate,” Gheen said.

“This White House runs like a banana republic and unlawful decrees and string pulls abound. Same with Bush when he ordered ICE not to arrest Obama’s illegal alien aunt Zetuni Onyongo before election day,” Gheen said.

Gheen says the number of sex offenders in the ranks of illegal immigrants is most likely enormous.

“It is estimated that over nine million illegal aliens are employed in America with almost no chance they will currently [be] arrested or deported until after they have raped or killed someone. Among them there are likely tens of thousands of sex offenders,” Gheen said.

Gheen says many illegal aliens started their crime sprees in their home country, but there was no way for U. S. officials to know.

“Many … have committed sex crimes here in the U.S. and many … committed sex crimes in places where the rule of law does not exist. There are no police reports or evidence for us to even access,” Gheen said.

“Some illegal aliens are from part of South and Central America that have no local police, running water, or basic sanitation systems. Sex crimes in nations like Mexico are rarely reported and even more rarely prosecuted,” Gheen said.

Even so, Gheen says he doesn’t understand how Sanchez could have been selected for the intern slot.

“We do not know how or why the senator hired him, probably a political string pull by one of many illegal alien-supporting nonprofit group[s] if we had to guess,” Gheen said.

Gheen said he called the senator’s office and also was told that Sanchez avoided detection because he was unpaid. Gheen’s not buying that explanation.

“We would like to know more about how this illegal alien was hired. Today on the phones, before the staff in Menendez’ office stopped answering phones, a staffer was claiming no law was broken because the intern was unpaid,” Gheen said.

“This has to be a lie or the illegal had to have some other benefactor. How many young illegal aliens from Peru do you think have the resources to pay their own way to be an intern? Something is very fishy about the not paid claim we heard on the phones briefly today,” Gheen said.

Gheen called for Menendez to quit.

“We are calling for Sen. Menendez to resign over this as the hiring of an illegal alien sex offender indicates the public can have no confidence in his leadership, and the revelation that the Obama administration protected him until after the election means the public was deprived of important information before voting,” Gheen said.

The Washington Examiner reported that DHS Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Nelson Peacock said that it would require billions to deport all of the illegals.

“Our conservative estimate suggests that ICE would require a budget of more than $135 billion to apprehend, detain and remove the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population,” the Examiner reported, quoting Peacock.

“So, while it would cost a one-time fee of about $135 billion to deport every single illegal alien in the country, it is actually a bargain considering the fact that it already costs us $113 billion annually to keep them here. In other words, the mass deportation would pay for itself in a little over a year,” the Examiner reported.